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Albania Match Thread (10/09/2018)


Clyde1998

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7 hours ago, magicTs said:

For all those slagging off the crowd tonight on a very wet MONDAY night here's a few crowds from the weekends games......

 

Switzerland v Iceland 14,912

Italy v Poland 23,872

Czech Rep v Ukraine 7,974

Northern Ireland v Bosnia 16,942

Wales v Rep of Ireland 25,657

Denmark v Wales 17,506

Norway v Cyprus 6,572

Bulgaria v Norway 9,895

 

Even though tonight's Scotland crowd is small in respect to our usual home crowds, certainly in competitive qualifying fixtures the turn outs given our lack of success for over 2 decades now remains fairly remarkable. We continually get crowds way way bigger than far more successful countries with significantly bigger populations.

A lot of people (including some people on this board) still don’t realise last night’s game was a competitive match. 

 

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11 hours ago, PASTA Mick said:

Just get McLeish out now. Awful selection.

It's always worrying when the manager picks a team that not one single fan has predicted in the days leading up to the game. 

McLeish’s job is to win competitive games and to get us to Euro 2020. His job is not to select a starting line up that you, me or anyone else approves of. 

I realise that it could have went wrong and it’s easy to say this after a victory but we won so the line up couldn’t have been that bad. 

To call for the manager to be sacked because he has selected players that you don’t agree with is an utter embarrassment. 

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1 minute ago, Texas Pete said:

McLeish’s job is to win competitive games and to get us to Euro 2020. His job is not to select a starting line up that you, me or anyone else approves of. 

I realise that it could have went wrong and it’s easy to say this after a victory but we won so the line up couldn’t have been that bad. 

To call for the manager to be sacked because he has selected players that you don’t agree with is an utter embarrassment. 

To be fair to pasta he’s never wanted Mcliesh and clearly still doesn’t. He’s also eaten some humble pie in this thread like quite a few of us did. 

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On the Belgium match thread i made my feelings known how i feel about McCleish, still haven't changed. However, i will give him credit when it's due. When i heard the starting line up last night i thought what the f..k! Walking up to the game, getting soaked i thought why do i bother but i left happy a wins a win and fair play to the manager for his team selection and the teams overall performance.

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5 hours ago, mrniaboc said:

Not sure the reason for this but we should definitely show the Albanian fans some respect. An away support that strong from a nation of under 3 million on a soaking Monday night in Glasgow, now that's something the TA can get behind!

Agreed they were great. Although I'd imagine most of them live in the UK.

 

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O'Donnell was superb last night.   I was shattered watching him get up and down the park.  Could have scored a couple as well. 

Showed real passion and the Albanian's were shyting it from him.   My MOTM by a mile.

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6 hours ago, PASTA Mick said:

C'mon...He struggled to get a game for Luton in League 2. He's not done much wrong but he is benefiting from our lack of options at right-back. I'm not sure who would be our next choice if you don't count Hutton and Bardsley...maybe Ralston? Graham Alexander? 

And Andy Robertson was released by Celtic and played with Queens Park. Is he good enough?

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6 hours ago, PASTA Mick said:

C'mon...He struggled to get a game for Luton in League 2. He's not done much wrong but he is benefiting from our lack of options at right-back. I'm not sure who would be our next choice if you don't count Hutton and Bardsley...maybe Ralston? Graham Alexander? 

You don't half talk shite. Ralston 😂😂 Lewis Toshney II.

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I don't give a rats where he struggled to get a game. He was our man of the match last night and looked assured and not out of place at all in the Scotland team.  Ffs David Healey failed to seal down a spot in top flight football in his career yet is Northern Ireland's record goalscorer. That proves the point. Don't judge someone on what club they play for but on their performances in a Scotland jersey. 

Edited by Caledonian Craig
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10 hours ago, fringo said:

Mostly impressed by O'Donnell because I've rarely seen him play and didn't know his possible quality.

Looked totally at ease and as if he already had the experience of 20-30 caps.

Totally agree, sOD MoM. Also thought McGinn was great at regaining possession and getting forward. Wee drops of shoulder to gain yards. I forgive him giving ball away at least twice which could have cost us. Played well as did team but SOD outstanding.

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Thought Albania were a lot poorer than I ever expected them to be.

We did have a couple of nervy moments, but would put that down to switching off to being in so much control (any other team would have punished as a lot more!)

Naismith put in a excellent shift, but whole first half I just felt he was missing that final "click", as he was putting himself about great and chasing every ball (how he beat the off-side at one point in the first half will never know as he was a mile off side, but thankfully the linesman was ball watching), but just seemed to freeze once he got into a good spot in the box (more than made up for this in the 2nd half though)

Thought O'Donnell was great also, but just wish he had more confidence to take on his marker with the ball, had him in his back pocket all night, and every time he got the ball, he would take the safe option with a easy pass almost every time, and when he did go on a run he would cause the Albanians all sorts of problems.

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25 minutes ago, wanderer said:

 

Thought O'Donnell was great also, but just wish he had more confidence to take on his marker with the ball, had him in his back pocket all night, and every time he got the ball, he would take the safe option with a easy pass almost every time, and when he did go on a run he would cause the Albanians all sorts of problems.

I think he was told to be more cautious as it let Robertson bomb forward more often.

When this happened we dropped to a back 4, with Tierney sliding over to left back to cover.

SOD would bomb that wing all day if he was allowed, so I definitely think he was under instructions.

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15 minutes ago, PASTA Mick said:

Not quite the same, is it? 

Why? It's a player who had to drop down the divisions to regain his confidence and get moves/play at a higher level. SOD had to leave Luton as it wasn't working out, he's playing at arguably a higher level now at club level than he was back then and is thriving. To be fair, if I had to live and work in Luton I'd probably struggle too!

SOD struggled at Luton, many player have struggled after moves in the past. Doesn't make them a bad player. Some players just don't suit certain clubs. Having seen Luton on TV a few times, I think most football players would struggle with those hammer throwers.

SOD is playing in a team at club level who are high in confidence, he's high in confidence and doesn't look out of place in the national side, unlike some players at bigger clubs (McDonald is an EPL player and looks like a fish out of water).

What team a player plays with (or has played for in the past) is immaterial.

I like how McLeish is picking players who are on form. It showed last night as we came flying out the traps and the players looked right up for it.

Had Griffiths, Forrest et al started the season anywhere near half decent then they'd have started but they haven't and guys like Naismith, McGinn etc who are flying at club level deservedly got the nod.

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Plenty saying Albania were poor, ok they certainly weren't Belgium but they had already beaten Israel 1-0 on Friday and I would like to think they looked honking last night mainly due to us being good.. From the first whistle we played with a very high tempo, got "intae them" as we used to do in the past and rattled them. Seemed to be late in the first half and in bits of the second before they settled. When they did have little phases they passed the ball well and created a couple of decent chances. Overall though we were the dominant side and we imposed our game on them. Also lets not forget, based on rankings etc, we are playing teams of our own level in the NL. The fact that we were able to dominate one is more credit to us, we weren't playing a Faroes or Andorra tonight, we were playing a nation who has been at a major tourney more recently than us.

No real failures from what I could see, everyone did their jobs. We created a decent number of chances and on another night, with a pass a few feet either side of where they were played, with a bit more clinical finishing, we would have had the game done by HT.

Thought we looked better in the second half with Armstrong on, midfield 3 very fluid and linked and passed well. A few comments about McGinn, yes a couple of poor passes but his energy and drive and just strength to get his body between man and ball made him very noticeable for me. Credit to McLeish, thought Naismith had a very effective game too, set the tempo with his usual harassment of their back 4, something that I thought was gone from his game nowadays.

Overall, came away from Hampden with any moans or niggles for the first time in a while. 

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SOD - doesn't work out for a player at a club due to what could be a variety of reasons - tactics, homesickness, not rated by manager etc etc. Comes to a club where everything clicks and he flourishes. Called up to international squad and continues that fine form........

Unheard of. No other player has done that. if he fails at any previous club then he should be binned.

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2 hours ago, vanderark14 said:

To be fair to pasta he’s never wanted Mcliesh and clearly still doesn’t. He’s also eaten some humble pie in this thread

2 hours ago, Lairdyfaeinverclyde said:

On the Belgium match thread i made my feelings known how i feel about McCleish, still haven't changed. 

 

Jesus, it’s McLeish ffs.

Edited by Baz
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10 minutes ago, Squirrelhumper said:

Had Griffiths, Forrest et al started the season anywhere near half decent then they'd have started but they haven't and guys like Naismith, McGinn etc who are flying at club level deservedly got the nod.

and that will hopefully be the big difference we will see between McLeish and Strachan - in form Scottish Premiership and English based players being picked ahead of English Championship bench-warmers.........

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